In the Region/New Jersey; New Housing for Reviving South Amboy Waterfront

A RESIDENTIAL enclave rising along Raritan Bay in South Amboy is the latest sign that this Middlesex County city's two-mile-long waterfront is undergoing a revival after sitting dormant for nearly 50 years.

Called Lighthouse Bay, the $50 million 32-acre housing development will have 115 town houses and 70 single-family detached homes. Most of the residences are being designed with Victorian-style architectural features to reflect South Amboy's housing stock and its past as the gateway to the New Jersey Shore, said the developer, Baker Residential of Pleasantville, N.Y.

The houses will rise over the next three years on the site, which is within the city's 130-acre southern waterfront redevelopment area. They are also near a New Jersey Transit train station and a planned high-speed ferry, both with service to Manhattan, about a 60-minute train trip from South Amboy.

Christopher T. Baker, vice president and general manager of Baker Residential, said Lighthouse Bay would capitalize on those transit links as well as the city's water views and shore location. Being a shore community within commuting distance to Manhattan represents an excellent marketing opportunity, he said, saying, ''what we're selling is convenience and lifestyle.''

Moreover, in the ''surrounding areas of South Amboy, the demographics are strong and the job formation is good,'' Mr. Baker said. The project, he added, is expected to draw young professionals, families and empty nesters.

Lighthouse Bay is part of a larger redevelopment effort begun five years ago to revive this 1.8-square-mile city's once-industrial waterfront. The activity so far has taken place on the southern waterfront. There the Baker project joins Shore Gate, a 114-unit condominium for people 55 and over. Shore Gate, together with a municipal library, youth center and middle and high school, give the redevelopment a community focus, according to Mayor John T. O'Leary. There is also a new waterfront park that sits mostly in neighboring Sayreville, which surrounds South Amboy.

The redevelopment will take place over seven years. Ultimately, it will encompass 345 acres and spread to the central and northern sections of the city's coastline, which began to decline in the 1950's and, until recently, was bypassed because it was inaccessible to the highway and mass transit system that serves the rest of South Amboy. The city, which has 8,000 residents, is close to such roads as the Garden State Parkway, the New Jersey Turnpike and Routes 287 and 440.

The redevelopment plan, using $50 million in federal and state loans and grants, seeks to overcome that hurdle by providing road access to the bay. For instance, development of the county park and municipal complex also brought a new road, John T. O'Leary Boulevard, named for the mayor, that connected those projects to the city's downtown and opened up the rest of the southern waterfront to development.

IT also calls for creating an intermodal transit hub by adding to the existing bus service enhanced train service and the Manhattan ferry, which will be run by SeaStreak America of Atlantic Highlands. That, city officials hope, will make South Amboy the transportation powerhouse, if not the industrial one, it was at the turn of the century, when three railroads and a ferry operated there.

Also planned for the waterfront redevelopment area, which is now mostly desolate, are up to 1,500 residential units, a 400-slip marina and up to three million square feet of commercial space. There will also be open space and a public walkway to the bay.

''We needed to bring life back to the city, so we went the public grant route to create the environment necessary for development to take place,'' said Mr. O'Leary, a native of South Amboy and its mayor of 14 years. ''The next industry to come into town will be the high-tech industry.''

John F. O'Connell, the city's former director of economic development, said that in redeveloping its waterfront South Amboy hoped for the same kind economic ripple effect that washed over Hudson River waterfront towns, like Jersey City. The waterfront is the city's opportunity to help balance its tax base, which relies heavily on residential property owners.

But, the redevelopment will be done ''one step at a time'' to preserve the city's small-town flavor and its residents' quality of life, Mr. O'Leary said, adding that it would also complement, not compete with, the nearby reviving six-block downtown.

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Under the redevelopment plan, developers must provide studies on the impact their projects on the city's coffers and schools, said Stanley R. Marcinczyk, South Amboy's business administrator. Estimates are that Lighthouse Bay along with up to 275 future residences -- to be built in the south waterfront by Baker -- will generate $2.5 million to the city a year and produce 120 school age children, he said.

The Baker project will generate an estimated $3 million in new tax revenue to the city a year. Since it will cater to a broad group of buyers, it will have a ''negligible impact'' on schools, Mr. Marcinczyk said.

It will also promote transit-friendly development. Last year, the area around the train station and planned ferry was designated a ''transit village'' as part of a state program to attract private investment and spur development close to transit hubs. The designation makes the city eligible for increased state aid.

OF the public financing for the redevelopment, Congress has awarded the city $14.2 million for road improvements. That includes a new road to provide access from the downtown to the bay, which will allow construction of a ferry terminal and open up the 140-acre central waterfront area to the planned mixed-use development, Mr. Marcinczyk said. The road will be completed by early summer and the ferry will begin operating by the end of the summer, he said, adding that the state was simultaneously expanding three bridges within a quarter of a mile from the waterfront.

New Jersey Transit, the overseer of the state's mass transit system, has committed to spending $18.2 million at the South Amboy train station. With 1,100 daily riders, the station is one of the busiest on the North Jersey Coast line. The line is the second busiest in the state's transit system, with 16,000 riders a day, according to the transit agency. Improvements under way or planned include expanding the parking at the station for 250 cars and building a five-block-long elevated train platform.

Jeffrey A. Warsh, New Jersey Transit's executive director, said the transit village program in South Amboy ''affords us an opportunity to create a viable intermodal facility in a densely populated and transit-hungry area.'' The growth in ridership at South Amboy's station is expected to outpace that of others on the North Jersey Coast line, which is to double its ridership in the next decade, he added.

In the first half of the 20th century, South Amboy was home to a string of factories and the Eastern Coal Docks, which transferred Pennsylvania coal and other goods for distribution along the East Coast. But in 1950, a munitions explosion on the waterfront started the city's decline, Mayor O'Leary said. By the 1980's, most of the factories had shut down, as had the coal docks. After that, the Corps of Engineers dredged the Raritan Channel, creating 66 additional acres of land.

Today, that land along with 64 more acres, mostly owned by the city, forms the South Amboy's southern waterfront redevelopment area, where the Baker project is rising. The Baker development follows Shore Gate, which when it opened two years ago was the first sizable new housing in the city in 40 years. Since then, all of the project's 114 one- and two-bedroom units have been sold for prices ranging from $89,000 to $139,000, said Tony Danza of North Haledon, the developer.

At Lighthouse Bay, the 115 town houses will have three bedrooms and 2,200 to 2,600 square feet and one- or two-car garages. The one-family detached homes, each on 8,000-square-foot lots, will have 2,300 to 3,500 square feet, three or four bedrooms and two-car garages.

All the residences will have balconies, porches, patios or decks. The project will also offer a 3,000-square-foot waterside community center, including a pool, Mr. Baker said.

He said prices would start in the high $200,000 range for the town houses and in the low $300,000 range for the single-family homes and go to $500,000. Sales will start in June, with initial occupancy by the end of the year.